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The latest figures forecast Switzerland’s federal spending for 2018 will be CHF 0.9 billion less than expected. This and higher than expected receipts of CHF 1.3 billion add up to an extra CHF 2.2 billion on top of an original budget surplus of CHF 0.3 billion, bringing the total forecast federal surplus to CHF 2.5 billion.

Switzerland’s federal government is now expecting to spend CHF 70.2 billion is 2018, around CHF 8,400 per resident.

The extra revenue is driven by better than expected growth in the economy, which has boosted VAT and tax receipts – predicted GDP growth of 2.3% is lower than the latest forecast of 3.6%.

The improvement in spending was partly due to lower than expected welfare spending on asylum seekers – 26,000 asylum requests were expected but only 16,500 are now forecast for 2018.